


With Open Arms (Even If Tony Will Say Differently)

by watchingthestars13



Series: The Life And Times Of Emma Barton [4]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint being a good dad, Emma being a good person, F/M, Fluff, Food Poisoning, M/M, Other Origin Story, this has been in the making for so long now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-23 21:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8342758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchingthestars13/pseuds/watchingthestars13
Summary: Clint manages to piss off Fury, Natasha, and Tony, all in the same day, just because he has a tendency to attract strays, Kate is a dumbass, and the food budget needs to be expanded. At least Emma's on his side, and when Emma's on your side, you're doing something right (or possibly morally dubious).





	1. Twenty-Seven Bucks And Pretty Smiles

**Author's Note:**

> Yay, new thing!!! After forever!!  
> I've been busy with school and stuff and I haven't had any flow at all, but then the spirits of something blessed me, and here I am, almost two am, getting my post on.  
> So you guys know how I hadn't watched AoU? Well, I did, and rolled my eyes pretty much through the whole thing, but gdi I loved the twins and Vision???? SO here's a different origin story for the twins becoming avengers, k? I'm still fully disregarding AoU, because it sucked, but I want to borrow the twins. That is all.  
> Please enjoy!! <3 <3

 

Clint picked his phone up as he dodged Emma's foot.

"Good kick! Lay another on me," Clint smirked as Emma kicked, making him dodge that one too. "Alright, hang on. Coulson! Hi!"

"Hi Coulson!" Emma exclaimed happily as Clint sat down on the training mat. Impatiently, she braced herself on his shoulders and flipped over to look at Clint's screen with him.

"Hi Emma," Coulson said with a small, courteous smile. "I need to speak to your dad privately."

"How rude," Emma announced, and flipped over again, vaulting herself away from them.

"She's been watching Full House lately, don't bother with her 'how rude's. What do you need me for, Sir?" Clint asked, focusing on Coulson's lips on the screen.

"Well, Agent Barton, you have a tendency to make people... Listen and consider their next move wisely. We need you down here to help with two rogues."

"What, you need my 'gotta go good speech'? Mockingbird has that memorized, call her," Clint frowned.

"No, this is definitely more for you, and the Avengers," Coulson affirmed. 

"Can I get some specifics?" he asked. Coulson sighed. 

"We have two mutants here who were caught during a classified mission recently. They're both quite violent in their containment. I know you're good at making people slow down, and that's definitely what these two need." Clint scratched at the back of his neck.

"Alright, sure, I'll be down. It's just me and Emma around the tower, and I don't want to leave her all alone," he said thoughtfully. "Is Hill around?" 

"Yes, she's here. Why?"

"Emma likes Hill," Clint shrugged. "We'll be there in fifteen."

"Copy that. I'll see you."

"Yeah, see ya," Clint said, and hung up. Emma was up in the air now, in the rings Tony had attatched in the ceiling, just for her. Still rings, she called them. "Hey, I have to run down to Shield, wanna hang out with Hill?"

"Depends. Are we gonna play cards?" Emma asked as she effortlessly stood on her hands in the rings, her hair looking like a flame with the way it was swaying. 

"Probably. It's the only way Hill knows how to entertain you," Clint grinned, and got up to stand underneath her. "Wanna come down so you can shower and not smell like a bucket of sweat?"

"Hey," Emma said with pinched lips as she looked down at him. 

"I'm just telling you the harsh truth, darling. I'm really not much better. You playfight like a super soldier. It's frankly a little scary to sparr with you. Shoulder to get down on?" he offered, and Emma smiled happily before she tucked her legs in, carefully angling herself down until she could place a delicate foot on Clint's shoulder, the same foot that had nearly kicked him off the mats earlier. He helped her get down on the ground, and she smiled at him as she placed her very white hands on his face, and stained it with chalk. 

"You're looking a little pale," Emma said, looking mockingly concerned, as she took a couple of steps back from him. Clint's eyes narrowed. 

"Disgraceful. I could make a better joke about a face full of chalk anytime. I'll get you for this," he said seriously, and Emma grinned. 

"You're gonna have to catch me first," she laughed as she vaulted herself over the mat, escaping his hands narrowly. Like a slippery slinky, she flipped into a cartwheel, and dissapeared into the showers. Clint grinned, and shook his head fondly at the tricky girl he adored so much. 

\---

As promised, fifteen minutes later, Clint and Emma entered the SHIELD headquarters, both dressed casually, even if Clint had debated if he should wear the Shield-issued uniform. Emma had tossed a pair of jeans at his face with an eyeroll, and nearly made him topple over from the force. She needed to control her strength, really. 

"Alright," Clint said as Hill appeared in the lobby. "This is where I leave you."

"What?" Emma said, giving him a confused look. "But I thought I could hang with you."

"I'm apparently working now, but I promise I'll come to you as soon as I can. I'm just gonna talk to some people, and then we'll be going. We'll grab ice cream on the way home," he promised, and Emma nodded. 

"Alright, fine," she said as Hill approached. 

"Agent Barton. Little Barton," she acknowledged, and Emma smiled sweetly at her. The kind of smile she had when she was about to whip someone's ass at cards. Hill would be a worthy opponent however. Clint knew that from experience. 

"Hi Hill," Emma said happily. "Wanna play cards?"

"How about Go Fish?" Hill suggested, eyes narrowing. "I'm still recovering from last time we played." Emma giggled.

"Alright," she agreed. 

"Keep an eye on this one for me while I go see what's up," Clint said, poking Emma's soft cheek. Hill nodded and spun around towards the cafeteria as Emma jogged next to her not to fall behind Hill's long legs.

The elevators here were glass, which seemed impractical to Clint. He stepped into the elevator, swiped his ID and stood still as the elevator scanned his retina.

"Agent Barton," the tiny cabin declared as Clint pressed the button for one of the many lower floors. The ride down was quick, and when the doors opened, Clint immediately searched for Coulson. 

He found him standing in front of a containment cell, staring at it's inhabitants on the tiny screen next to the door. 

"Coulson," Clint acknowledged, and Coulson looked up. His suit was as pristinely pressed as always, and he was wearing a blue tie with tiny whales on it. Clint smiled at it. "Lovely tie you're wearing." Coulson shot him an unimpressed look. "Wonder who picked it out for you."

"I spilled on my other tie and had to retort to this one since it was the only one in my office," Coulson said, and Clint's smile widened. "Anyway, Agent Barton," he continued, stressing the 'Agent' without making it seem like he was, "this is what we called you down for."

He took a look at the screen and raised his eyebrows.

"Wow. They're tiny," Clint acknowledged as Coulson handed him a tablet. 

"Yes, young, and not from here. The girl seems to speak for both of them, mostly, and with an accent," Coulson agreed. 

"What'd they do? Mutants?" he asked, as Coulson swiped right to show him pictures of their rampage. 

"Undoubtedly. He runs very very fast, and she... Her abilities are uncomprehensible so far. We've estimated that she has at least telekenesis, telepathy, and she can manipulate minds."

"Awesome," Clint declared as he swiped through a few pictures on the tablet. "Wow. Just the two of them did that? That's like, Hulk grade destruction." 

"Which is why we needed you here to talk them down. You have a way of disarming people. The only one I know who's better at that is Emma, and we don't employ her," Coulson said. Clint scoffed. 

"Yeah, and you're never gonna, if I have something to say about it. She's gonna become a scientist or something. Something normal and cool so that she can correct people when they say 'miss Barton' instead of 'Dr. Barton'," he said distractedly. "Actually, maybe she could earn some money on the side just by coming around here and offering hugs for support. Like a therapy dog. Her hugs are killer."

Coulson huffed, and Clint nodded. 

"Right, right. Let's go talk to some mutants." 

The guard pressed a couple of buttons by the door, and let Clint in. He smiled at the guard pleasantly, and strode into the room. 

In the corner, stood the two kids. Well, maybe not kids. Young adults. Guaranteed not older than Darcy, or Natasha. The boy had silvery wisps of a hairdo, looking kind of like cotton candy, except spikier, and his eyes were grey, wide and scared. The girl looked pretty much like the opposite of him, thick dark hair and brown eyes that took in Clint's every move. Siblings, seeing as the jawlines and faceshapes matched up. They had kind of the same nose, too. 

"Hi," Clint said as he took a seat by the metal table in the middle. The siblings took in his relaxed appearance, and immediately looked even more suspicious. "I look weird without my uniform on, don't I? I try not to come into work looking like it's casual Friday, but you two have the higher-ups peeing their pants, so here I am. On my day off."

They didn't look like he might as well be speaking Martian, so they obviously knew some English at least. That was good. He could work with that. They still looked a little suspicious, and the girl tipped her nose up in defiance.

"We want to leave," she said, her accent pretty thick and hard to place. Probably somewhere around Russia, Belarus, somewhere, if the way her words sounded like they were chopped out of her was any indication. He remembered Natasha's slight accent, from the beginning, the scalding words she'd thrown at him. 

"Yeah. We can't let you leave. Sorry about that. You did kind of burn a building down and wreck a block. And screwed with our agents heads. That's really not telling us that you'll be nice next time you roam the streets," he pointed out, giving the twitchy kid next to his sister a look. He was drumming his fingers against his thigh, impatient and his eyes flicking all over the room. "What're your names?"

The kid looked at his sister quickly, who looked at him a little wide-eyed. They were scrawny things, the both of them. He recognized the look of kids who grew up with nothing but each other, the smudges of dirt on the grey-haired boy's face, the way the girl's hair was pulled up in a ponytail to hide how dirty it was. 

The team joked about his tendency to pick up strays, but honestly, Clint didn't see the fun in it most of the time. He had no superpowers, no dazzling abilities like Thor's lightning or Tony's genius. He was just a regular guy who'd grown up in a shitty place and taught himself how to fight for the world. Clint picked up strays because it was another way to get the world on it's feet, extending a hand out to people who'd had cruelty rain down on them. 

"They haven't asked you about that yet, have they? They tend to skip that until they've figured out what your deal is. My name is Clint," he said with a small, unthreatening smile. He could practically hear Coulson close his eyes and exhale through his nose, his equivalent of a facepalm. 

"Wanda," the girl said carefully. Clint nodded. 

"And you?" he asked the boy, who yet again let his eyes flicker to his sister.

" **He wants to** \- **name. Why**?" the boy said in another language, and Clint knew some of the words, recognized them enough to fill in the blanks. Just as he thought, the language they spoke had Russian roots. Bucky or Natasha would probably know the accent. 

" **I do** -," Wanda answered quietly. " **He can** \- **use** \- **us. Answer.** "

"Pietro," the boy replied hesitantly, and Clint let his smile widen a little, keeping it kind. 

"Wanda and Pietro. Nice. Have a seat, Wanda and Pietro. I'm here to have a friendly discussion, not interrogate you," he said, sweeping a hand out towards the two chairs in front of him. They remained standing, and Clint thought he caught Pietro's hand grasping Wanda's behind her back nervously. "You don't wanna sit? I just want us to get on the same level."

"You're imprisoning us," Wanda said, her eyes flashing in scarlet light. Clint made an indecisive noise he was pretty sure he'd picked up from debating with Emma.

"I'm not doing anything. The guys out there, they're imprisoning you. I'm offering you a chance to sit down with me and set things right."

" **We** \- **listen to him** ," Pietro said quietly to Wanda, whose eyes flashed scarlet again. Clint felt something touching his conscious, and immediately shot his mental shields up. Wanda did a full-body flinch, as if he'd slammed a door on her face, and he crossed his arms over his chest as Pietro shot his sister a worried look. 

"You know, you should really ask for permission before you go poking around other people's mind like that. It's a serious breach of privacy."

"How do you-" Wanda began, but Clint cut her off.

"I've tried the whole mind control thing. Not a fan," he replied. "Now, if you could keep your mental pliers to yourself and sit down, we could talk about things without you having to root around in my head for answers. I promise I'll be honest."

Wanda and Pietro traded looks, even though Pietro's looked more pleading, and then they sat down. Clint smiled disarmingly. 

"There we are. Now. What made you set fire to a building and destroy a whole block? Absent parents? Issues with the United States customs? Personally, I really hate the TSA, so I could probably sympathize," he said as he leaned back in his chair. Wanda and Pietro looked bewildered, but then Pietro swallowed hard. 

"It was accident," he said, his voice soft and his accent as rough as his sister's. Clint's eyebrows raised. 

"Tripping down the stairs is an accident. Breaking a glass is an accident. Burning a building down is very rarely an accident. Destroying a block, even rarer that it's an accident," he pointed out. Pietro seemed to suck on his tongue as he thought, his knee bouncing restlessly underneath the table. Clint could be patient. He'd waited on a burning hot rooftop in Texas for over six hours. This wasn't any worse than that. 

"My powers, they..." Wanda began, and seemed to be searching for the words. "Unreliable. They are unreliable. Unstable."

"Oh," Clint said with a nod. "Well. That kind of changes things. What are your feelings about destruction and the end of humanity?"

"Bad," Pietro said, a ghost of a smile on his lips, and Clint responded to that with a smile. Attaboy. 

"Well, that's a relief. Maybe we won't have to lock you up for that long."

"Were there any hurt?" Wanda asked, her eyes large as she looked at him, wringing her hands in her lap. 

"A couple. Thirty, I think. None dead though," Clint nodded grimly. "The block you destroyed really fucked with some people's homes. How did you manage that? It was like a tornado had flewn by there."

"I can run really fast," Pietro said, his knee still bouncing restlessly under the table. 

"That's your power, huh? Feel free to take a couple of laps in here if it'll calm you down," Clint said. Pietro was gone in a blur, and a wind swept through Clint's hair, as Wanda's ponytail flipped over her face, making her spit the hair out with a grimace. Clint grinned as Pietro came back to his seat, his wispy hair looking windswept. "How many laps was that?"

"Eleven," Pietro told him, and Clint was a little impressed. Alright, the kid was _really_ fast, then. 

"Impressive," he said with a nod, and Pietro shrugged a little, looking decidedly proud of himself. "And what can you do that wrecks buildings, Wanda?"

Wanda looked a little hesitant, but then held a hand up. Her fingers twitched a little, and a ball of scarlet flames appeared in her hand, floating an inch or two above her palm. 

"Wow. Alright, now I get how you two could wreck a block and set fire to a building," he agreed. "Accidentally."

"It was accident," Pietro nodded.

"So you'd rather be superheroes than supervillains?" Clint asked carefully. Pietro nodded eagerly, and Wanda smiled, a very tiny, insecure smile, as she nodded as well. "Well then. Have you heard of the Avengers?"

Pietro nodded again, eyes bright. Wanda's enthusiasm wasn't nearly as blatantly obvious, more of a curiousity really.

"Good. I'm Hawkeye, one of the Avengers." As expected, Pietro was the one who looked more surprised. Wanda, who probably found something of the like when she tried to poke around in his brain, was less surprised, and now even more curious. "Let's talk about the Avengers initiative."

\---

"Really, Agent Barton," Fury began, his eye narrowed, fingers steepled in front of him on his desk. "You want to take two violent, uncontrolled mutants out of containment and stuff them into your goddamn tower to turn them into superheroes?" 

"Essentially, Sir," Clint nodded, his arms behind his back. "They're only twenty-three. Their powers are uncontrolled, yes, but they need a safe hand to guide them through that, not a prison cell, and we've got a whole lot of experience with dealing with things that are out of control."

"You're referring to the redheaded midget that likes to rob me blind whenever we play cards," Fury said blankly, and Clint bit back a laugh.

"Yes Sir, that would be the one," he agreed. Fury rubbed his eye with his knuckles, looking tired when he looked back up at Clint. 

"You wanna make them Avengers."

It was a statement, not a question, but Clint felt like he had to explain himself anyways. 

"I want to discuss it with the team first, but yes, I'd at least like to put them on a trial run. The Winter Soldier isn't an Avenger, and due to popular opinion, he might never get to be, but these kids? They have a chance to fix their mistakes before they become too grave. They can become Avengers. It's not too late for them."

Fury stared him down, thinking. 

"If I hear anything about them being in battle before they're ready or misstepping just once, I'll pull the plug on their asses before you can say 'but'," he said, and Clint nodded quickly, feeling a rush of glee.

"Thank you, Sir," he said with a respectful nod, and Fury grumbled. There was a knock on the door, and one of the agents peeked in. 

"Um, Sir, there's a girl here?" he said questioningly, as Emma shoved the door open, sliding in underneath the guy's arm. When he attempted to stop her, she did a flip out of his grasp, and landed right in front of Fury's desk, hopping up on it. 

"Hi Nick!" she said happily. "You know you still owe me twenty-seven bucks, right?" The agent looked bewildered, and was shooed off by Fury, who grumbled as he pulled his wallet out. 

"Really Em? We're busy," Clint said pointedly, and she swept her hair over her shoulder. 

"He owes me money," she said, eyebrows furrowing. "I wasn't gonna let him weasel out of it. Thank you, Nick!"

"You know, I could toss your parents out on their asses for this," he said as he handed Emma a couple of bills. Emma smiled endearingly. 

"You wouldn't. They're too useful to you for that," she said, counting her money. "Ah. You're missing a dollar." Fury grumbled some more, tossing her 'her damn dollar', and Emma beamed brighter. 

"Get out of my sight," Fury said, and Emma hopped off of his desk, shoving the money into her pocket. "I'll get Coulson to sign the forms for the releases."

"The releases?" Emma asked, intrigued. "As in... People? Who we're bringing home with us?"

"Their names are Pietro and Wanda Maximoff," Clint relayed to his daughter, who gave him a curious look.

"Man, mom's gonna be pissed if you adopt people behind her back," she pointed out, and Clint rolled his eyes, placing his hand between her shoulderblades to guide her out of the room after a respectful nod at a smirking Fury. 

"I'm not adopting them, I'm giving them a home until they can get a better one," he protested as he guided her towards the elevator.

"Yeah, that's kinda what you did with me, and now I'm your daughter."

"Where did this snark come from?"

"Definitely you," Emma decided as Clint scoffed and nudged her into the elevator, pressing the button for the holding cells.

"They're 23, so we can't even legally adopt them," Clint added after a moment's silence, and Emma shot him a look that was all kinds of Bucky-cocky, an eyebrow raising along with a lazy side-smile.

"Alright, let's see if they're any nice," Emma shrugged.

"That's the right attitude. Tell Tony that when they get back," Clint said, and Emma smirked.

"That's all on you, bro. If it had been a dog or something, I'm sure he'd gotten over it, but these are _people_ ," she pointed out as Clint showed his card to the guard. "People aren't as easy to ignore."

The door to the holding cell opened with a buzz, and before Clint could make Emma hang on for just one second, she stuck her head into the room to look around. 

Which spooks the kids in the room, obviously, because suddenly there's this entirely new person in a small, enclosed space with them, and Pietro looks like he's ready to take off through the solid wall of concrete. To stop him, Clint slid in behind Emma and grabbed her shoulders, and smiled disarmingly at Wanda and Pietro. 

"Hi guys. How's it hanging?" he asked. Emma looked at Wanda and Pietro curiously, and while Pietro looked like a nervous bouncy-ball of nerves, Wanda's face was slowly going from scared to sad. Clint wondered if it was instinctual for her, to see what other minds looked like. "Wanda, what'd I say about peeking into people's heads without their permission?"

"Not to," she replied in her broken accent, and stared with sad eyes at Emma. "But-"

"Yup!" he interrupted with forced cheer. "Now, this is Emma. Say hi."

"Hi," Emma said. "Wanda and Pietro, huh? Cool. Like Cosmo and Wanda."

"I think you'll find that this Wanda isn't very Fairy Odd Parents Wanda at all," he remarked. "What is it with you and making people into cartoon characters anyway?"

"Dr. Kyle says I like to make people less scary than they are to make myself feel safer," Emma chirped, and he stared down at her in surprise. 

"Wow. Alright. Whatever coping mechanisms you've got, I guess. Anyway." He patted her shoulder reassuringly. "I'm sure we'll all get along fine."

"Did you speak to Fury?" Pietro asked, and Clint nodded. 

"Yup. We're springing you." When neither expressions changed, Clint rethought his choice of words. "You're coming home with us." Pietro lit up, and Emma did too. 

"Man, you have an awesome smile," she said distantly, as if casually calling someone's smile awesome was a regular thing for her. It probably was, actually, now that Clint thought about it. She did like to cheer people up for no reason whatsoever.

Pietro pointed to himself, seemingly surprised. Emma nodded. 

"Uh-huh. So what makes you two so scary?" Wanda tilted her head in thought.

"Our powers," she replied. Emma raised her eyebrows. 

"What, you're not even criminals?" Pietro wrinkled his nose, and Emma laughed. "Wow. Huh. That's a little unlike you, dad."

"Geeze, attack me again," he said mock-hurtfully. "And it's not like their hands are entirely clean. Wrecked a couple of buildings."

"Rookies," Emma scoffed, and Clint nudged her in the side with his elbow admonishingly. 

"C'mon kiddos, let's get outta here," he said, signaling the guard outside. The door clicked open, and in one minute, Pietro was there, and in the next, he wasn't. Wanda's hair was flipped back over her face, and she muttered something that something like a curse in whatever language they were speaking. 

The burst of wind, of course, made Emma laugh as her hair was swept into her mouth. Clint knew he was pretty biased when it came to how much he loved hearing Emma laugh, but the look of surprise on Wanda's face proved that he wasn't the only one affected.

"He's fast," Emma exclaimed, dashing out after him. Wanda followed at a more leisurely pace, giving Clint a last, wary look when she passed him. He smiled on his way out, giving Coulson a look of gratitude. 

"They need this," he reassured Coulson, who shot him a dubious look. "Hey, this is all on you. You called me down here, not anyone else. You know I pick up strays. It's an inside joke and everything. It's probably in a memo by now."

Coulson's look turned appraising. 

"I think you're good at giving other people a second chance, and knowing when they deserve it," he said slowly. "You've got good instincts. I trust them. If they were beyond saving, you'd know."

"Dad! You promised me ice cream! Can Pietro and Wanda have some too?" came Emma's shout from the end of the hall, where she was now standing with both Wanda and Pietro, and a guard eyeing them suspiciously. She'd probably noticed, and needed to prove that they had the authority to be down here. 

Oh, but did he _love_ his smart kid.

"Sure, sweetheart," he called back, and he saw the guard relax minutely, and Emma's sly grin. "Why don't you tell them about the others? They'll need to brace themselves." 

"Alright," Emma called back distantly, already turning towards Pietro and Wanda, probably to explain the many merits of having the entire Avengers team wrapped around her pinkie.

"How pissed do you think Nat'll be?" Clint asked distantly. Coulson hummed, a smile sneaking onto his lips as he thought about that. Clint sighed. "Yeah. I'll have to think of a really good excuse why we should add even more people to our chaotic team."

"Your teenage brigade is waiting for you," Coulson said mildly, and Clint shot the three of them a look. Maybe they'd go clothes shopping while they were at it. Even if Wanda and Pietro wouldn't get to stay, the least they could do was get Wanda a sweater that wasn't threadbare, and get Pietro some decent running shoes. 

"I feel like such a soccer mom all of a sudden," he remarked, and surprised a chuckle out of the usually stoic Coulson.

"Go," Coulson huffed as he shooed Clint off, and Clint grinned as he jogged towards his very excited daughter and the two confused kids he was bringing home.

\---

 


	2. Ice Cream And The Berlin Wall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the love!! I appreciate every single kudos and read and comment so much!!  
> Enjoy! <3

 

"Is that good?" Emma asked, pointing to Pietro's very artificially blue ice cream. Pietro licked it again, and nodded. Wanda had gotten raspberry, and was still curiously licking it too. Of course, they'd had ice cream before. Just not raspberry flavored, and definitely not cotton candy. 

With Emma's help, Clint had managed to coax more details out of the twins. Because apparently, they weren't just siblings, they were twins, who looked like total opposites. Wanda was, as Clint had already thought, more reserved, but more in the 'I'm terrified of accidentally frying you with my freakish powers' way than the 'I'm a general asshole' way. Pietro, on the other hand, was quick to joke and to smile, and obviously made Emma laugh like a lunatic. 

He had no doubts that Emma would be keeping in contact with the two of them even if the others tried to get rid of them. Which was another problem, he thought as they sat down on a bench to eat their ice creams, Clint setting down bags filled with big sweaters for Wanda and hoodies for Pietro, along with shoes. So many shoes. 

He'd already gathered that Wanda was cold before she'd started digging into oversized sweaters hesitantly, because she kept wringing her hands, and in the car she'd even sat on them, probably to keep them warm. He'd tossed in a couple of wool socks and thick sweatpants, just to be on the safe side when it came to Wanda's shivers. 

Clint looked over at the twins and Emma. Pietro's leg was jiggling where he sat next to his sister on the bench, but it seemed more like he wasn't used to sitting down this much than anxious energy. Emma was licking her own chocolate dipped ice cream enthusiastically, and Wanda was watching the people walking by them, probably mind-reading or whatever it was she did when she peeked into people's heads.

Actually, why not ask? 

"So the mind-control thing," Clint began, and Wanda looked up at him, her contemplative look turning into a little frown. "What do you really do?"

"I'm not sure," she replied slowly. "I see what they see. Their fears, their memories. What they're made of."

"Do you do it consciously?" When she kept staring at him, he took another bite of his ice cream, trying to keep it casual. "On purpose. Do you have to think about it to make it happen, or does it just happen?"

"It just happens, usually," Wanda said thoughtfully. "People think so loud."

"Does it ever overwhelm you?" he asked, and her eyes flashed scarlet as she shot him a deer-in-headlights look. Yeah, that's what he thought. That tended to be the case with powers as voilatile as Wanda's seemed to be. 

"Sometimes," she admitted reluctantly. 

"There's this guy. The Hulk," Clint explained. "He's good at teaching people how to be zen and control their powers. It's the only way he keeps from Hulking out most of the time. He taught Emma to reel in her powers so they'd calm down and she wouldn't be making glasses and machinery explode all the time. He could probably help you deal with it, if you're having a hard time."

Wanda opened her mouth, hesitated, and shot Pietro and Emma a look over her shoulder. They were busy watching a video on Emma's phone, still licking their ice creams and looking decidedly uninterested in their conversation.

"Has she told you what they did? To her?" Wanda asked quietly, leaning into his space. Clint felt a chill run down his spine at the intent look Wanda was giving him. 

"Which time are you talking about?" Clint asked, his voice just as quiet. Wanda licked her lips nervously, and shoved the hand she wasn't holding her ice cream with underneath her thigh. 

"The scientists," she whispered, looking distressed. "When she was nine years old." He sighed quietly.

"She has a therapist for that," he said pointedly. "You don't need to know that."

"So much fear," Wanda whispered, eyes wide as they stared at him. "Constant pain. She broke bones daily and healed over night. And her head-"

"I got that, yeah," Clint said firmly, cutting her off. He felt a lump burn in the back of his throat as he shook his head. "Whatever she wants us to know, she'll tell us."

Wanda looked pained, but nodded, went back to licking her ice cream. Alright, maybe he wasn't the one who would understand Wanda the best. 

His phone vibrated, and he pulled it out of his pocket, only to stare at the 'Tasha' that was blinking on the screen. 

"Your wife?" Wanda asked carefully, and he felt her mind-tendrils reaching out again. He didn't let her get any closer now than before. This time, it wasn't so much as a full-body flinch as it was a subtle twitch as she leaned into her brother's side. 

"Nah, not yet. Workin' on it," Clint smiled reassuringly to prove he didn't really mean any harm, before pressing the green button and bringing the phone to his ear. "Nat!"

"Hi," came Natasha's smooth voice from the other side, sounding just the tiniest bit tense. "Guess where I am." Clint raised an eyebrow in surprise. 

"Uh. Shield? Where you said you'd be this morning?" he asked hopefully. 

"Cute," Natasha said, and Clint shook his head with a rueful smile, looking up at the ceiling. 

"Alright, that one was a little unbelievable. Do I get another guess?" Natasha made a humming noise of confirmation. "Awesome. Lemme think here... Can't be the grocery store, because we've practically given up on that. Not the coffee shop by the tower either, because that place is crammed with paparazzi nowadays. Hmm..."

"I'll give you a hint: Purple."

"You're at my apartment?" Clint asked, surprised. He hadn't been there in forever, and Kate had probably invaded it by now and claimed it as her own, like the little apartment-stealer she was. He couldn't really blame her. 

"I was around and thought I'd check it out and got attacked."

"By who?" he asked, alarmed. He thought he'd put the fear of Hawkeye in those jackasses, did he have to go back there and clear things up?

"Your tenant's kids. They've apparently named me 'redhead lady' and thought I was a burglar," Natasha said, sounding mildly dismayed. He snickered. 

"You're a little too sneaky for your own good, Nat," he said with a smile, glancing over at Pietro and Emma, who were now much more interested in his conversation than their video. "Even little kids think you're suspicious."

" **Is that mom**?" Emma asked, handing her phone to Pietro so she could sign along. She only really did that when she spoke really fast or whenever he wasn't paying attention to her face. 

"Yup," he tossed over his shoulder. 

"Not wife, but mom?" Wanda clarified. Emma nodded. 

"Well, without me, they wouldn't even be together," she said proudly, and Clint smiled fondly, completely missing Natasha's next words. 

"Clint?"

"Hm?"

"Do you need me to toss Kate out or not?" Just like he'd thought. Knowing the other Hawkeye, Nat had probably walked in on her curled up on his couch under tons of blankets. Nesting had become a common Hawkeye thing, surprisingly. He'd shown Kate how to, and she'd began making them whenever she had the time.

"Is she screwing America in my bed?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Goddammit. Tell Kate to bang America or get the hell out," Clint said with a tut and a shake of his head. Natasha huffed, an amused huff that made Clint's heart flutter a little. He smiled. "Feel free to grab whatever was the real reason you came around." Natasha gave a quick little sigh at how well he knew her, and Clint's smile turned into a grin. "This is when you tell me what you were there for, Nat. Common conversational courtesy."

"I really was in the neighborhood," she tried again.

"I'm sure you were. What're you looking for?" 

"The other Hawkeye," she admitted. 

"What for? One Hawkeye isn't good enough for you?"

"Oh, you're enough, alright. Kate just called earlier today sounding very drunk, and gave me a slurred version of the shovel-talk. I wondered how she managed to get my number, but then I realized that I'm dating an idiot who's written my number down and put it up on his fridge," she said, and he could hear Natasha's nail stab his poor old refridgerator.

"My memory isn't the greatest. I get a lot of concussions. You can't blame me for that." Natasha made a so-so noise she'd _definitely_ picked up from Emma, and Clint rubbed a hand over his face to hide his dopey grin. Man, did he love his little family.

"You have milk in your fridge that I'm pretty sure is old enough to move out and get it's own apartment," Natasha noted. 

"Why are you rummaging through my fridge anyway?"

"Kate's still a little drunk. Thought I'd put out the ingredients for an omelette. I'm nice like that. Oh. Wait. This is open," Natasha murmured, seemingly to herself. There was some rustling, and then Natasha cursed in Russian. "I'm sorry, I have to drive Kate to the hospital."

"What? What'd she do?" Clint asked. 

"She's undoubtedly got food poisoning," Natasha relayed. "How severe it is, I don't know. She's been puking, and she's got a fever. Really high fever. She's frying her brains out. Fuck's sake, Kate."

"Oh crap. I'll call America. Are you going to an actual hospital or SHIELD?"

"It's food poisoning, not an unexplained bullet hole. I'm taking her to the nearest hospital. Kate, hold this and puke into it." Natasha grunted as she probably hefted Kate up. "Are you and Emma home?"

"Uh, we will be." There was an ominous silence on the other end of the line.

"Clint..."

"We're fine! Just at the mall. We're going home in a moment. I'll talk to you later. Toss the milk and tell Kate to stop being so cheap and buy her own groceries," he said with a shake of his head. 

"Fine," Natasha said, and ended the call. 

"Who's going to the hospital?" Emma asked, eyes wide. Pietro's leg was bouncing faster than before now, and he looked a little agitated, as if he wanted to get out of here. Clint stood up, which made the others stand up too.

"Of all the things that could be wrong with her, Kate only has food poisoning," he said with a head-shake as he scrolled through his contacts to America Chavez's number. "She'll probably be fine, but I've gotta tell her girlfriend. We're also going home, because Pietro needs to go for a run and I'm pretty sure we could all use something a little more substantial than ice cream."

Emma agreed and the twins traded equal looks of suspicion, and yeah, Clint could understand that. Two strangers busting them out and then buying them things and feeding them for no apparent reason? Probably would've made him suspicious too, if he'd been in their position. Hell, he _had_ been. Coulson could testify to that. 

"Oh boy, if they're terrified now," he muttered to himself, shaking his head. Maybe he should've mentioned the twins to Natasha, so he'd have some back up once everyone got around to meeting them. Although, that would've led to a longer conversation with Pietro, Wanda, and Emma listening in. Probably wouldn't have gone down too well. "Okay kiddos, let's get going! We've got to get you two situated, and I'm pretty sure you, young lady, have homework."

"No? Dad, school hasn't even started yet," Emma said questioningly, grabbing Pietro's hand distantly to stop him from running off as they walked toward the exit where they'd parked the car. 

"Oh geeze, you're right, but soon, right?" he said, trying to remember the date. 

"Yup, in a week," Emma confirmed. She locked eyes with him. "Until then, we've got shit to do." Clint agreed. 

\---

After giving the twins a tour of pretty much all of the living quarters and the common floor, Clint sent them off to shower. They'd have to think about converting a guest floor into a floor for the two of them, but that'd have to be a discussion for when the others came home. 

Natasha had texted him around the time that Emma had grabbed a pack of Oreos and retreated to the common room, saying that Kate had gotten her stomach pumped and that America had showed up. Nat would be coming back soon, and Jarvis had informed him, very pointedly, that Steve, Bruce, Tony, and Peter would be back soon too. Jane and Thor were off somewhere in Sweden in an ice-hotel, and Bucky and Darcy were out seeing one of Darcy's brothers.

By the time Pietro and Wanda emerged again, hair damp from their showers and in their new, clean clothes, Clint was pretty much a nervous wreck. Dammit, he should've told Natasha so he'd have some damn back-up.

"What's wrong?" Wanda asked, eyes narrowing.

"No mind-poking," he said sternly from where he was tossing a poptart into the toaster, since Pietro'd been eyeing them.

"Not poking. You're just loud," Wanda said as she sat down next to Pietro by the kitchen island, instantly shoving her hands underneath her thighs. Now that Clint actually thought about it, Wanda's insistence on hiding her hands might be rooted in insecurity rather than them being cold. From the pictures Coulson had shown him, she and her brother could do some serious damage with their combined powers. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he assured them as the toaster dinged and made the poptart jump up. He placed it on a plate and handed it to Pietro. "Eat that." Suspiciously, Pietro snagged the plate, and devoured the poptart in seconds, licking his lips. "Yikes. Supermetabolism?"

"He needs a lot of food," Wanda said with a shrug, watching her twin out of the corner of her eye, as if he'd drop dead in a minute. Like Clint'd try to poison him. "You said... Substantial?" Her pronounciation was a little off, but honestly, he had no clue what kind of schooling these two had gotten in- wherever it now was that they were from. Their English was pretty impressive, either way. 

"Substantial," Clint nodded. "Yeah, we need to wait until the other guys get home, though, because for one, I'm not on kitchen duty, and for two, they'll need to pester you with questions first, and they'll probably try to piss you off and seem as impenetrable as the Berlin wall, but you just need to prove how tough you are and they'll be nicer."

"Berlin wall?" Pietro questioned, eyeing an orange lying on the kitchen island. Definitely Bruce's, he was all for eating healthy shit. Clint rolled it over to him without really thinking about it, frowning. 

"You don't know what the Berlin wall is?" he questioned. "How old are you again?"

"Twenty-three," Wanda replied as Pietro hesitantly peeled the orange, handing her a piece.

"Oh god, you're so young," he muttered to himself, leaning against the kitchen island. "When did the Berlin wall fall, Jarvis?"

"It began being demolished in 1989, but wasn't fully removed until 1992," he stated. 

"Holy crap, you guys weren't even born yet," Clint exclaimed. He groped around for a glass in the cupboard, only to find that there were none. Noting on the chart on the fridge that it was Bruce's turn to unload the dishwasher, he sighed. Bruce was busy doing science stuff all the time, which meant he rarely had the time to do any of his assigned chores. Clint pulled a jug of milk out and slid it over the counter to Wanda. "Drink some of that."

"Why?" she asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, as if she couldn't possibly imagine why he would want her, a dangerously skinny girl who'd been living on the streets lately, to drink something filled with calcium, vitamins, proteins, and fat.

"It's good for you," he promised, grabbing two clean glasses out of the dishwasher and sliding them over the counter. "Give some to Pietro too, you two need it."

"Why are you so... Nice?" Pietro questioned suspiciously, and Clint turned back around to start unloading the dishwasher. 

 _Because you need it. Because I know what it's like to need someone to be nice to you, to restore your faith that there's good in the world. I know, I know, I know_ , Clint thought as he grabbed a dishtowel to dry the excess water off. He didn't say any of it. 

"Because I'm a nice guy." He wondered if Wanda could hear his thoughts at this moment, and shot a look over his shoulder fleetingly, only to catch sight of the twins' dubious looks. Good, she hadn't heard him. 

Emma strolled into the room, handing her unfished pack of oreos to Wanda without even thinking about it, seemingly, and gave Clint a weird look. 

"It's not your turn, is it?" Emma questioned as she picked a couple of plates out and stood on her tip-toes to put them where they belonged, very helpfully. He smiled. 

"Nope," Clint said as he stretched to reach the top shelf, where they kept the fancy-looking glasses. 

"Then why are you unloading the dishwasher?" she asked, looking like he might be a strange, foreign Clint-robot, and was contemplating attacking him to prove the theory. He smiled. 

"It's Bruce's turn, and you know how he keeps forgetting to unload until we're drinking coffee out of bowls," he shrugged. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pietro chugging half of the jug in one sweep as Wanda sipped her milk, slower, looking disgusted at her brother's terrible manners. Clint smirked.

"True," Emma conceded, looking at the glass in her hand thoughtfully. She looked up at the ceiling. "When's everyone coming back?" 

"Agent Romanoff just arrived in the lobby, as well as Dr. Banner, Captain Rogers, Master Peter, and Sir. Sergeant Barnes and Miss Lewis are only two blocks away," Jarvis told her. 

"Oh shit," Emma and Clint declared in unison, Emma fumbling with her fingers enough to drop the glass. Before it hit the floor, it was enveloped in scarlet light, and stopped in mid-air. 

Wanda's hand was outstretched, her fingers curled towards her palm just the slightest, and her hand was glowing with the same red light. Emma's jaw dropped. 

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed. "You're doing that? Is that you?" The glass floated up in Emma's grabbing height, and she let out a squeak of excitement as she grabbed it.

"Yes," Wanda said, and seemed a little overwhelmed at the awe in Emma's voice.

"Holy shit! Wanda has telekenesis and you didn't tell me?" Emma exclaimed at Clint, who held his hands up in surrender. 

"Totally forgot, she's got a whole lot of other abilities too, y'know? It's hard to remember them all!" Clint argued. Emma was nearly jumping with joy, making Pietro grin. 

"It's pretty cool, yes?" he said, smiling proudly at his sister. Emma nodded vigorously. 

"We're like, telekenesis buddies!" Emma explained to Wanda. "I can do things with my mind too!" Wanda considered that. 

"Telekenesis buddies," she repeated dubiously, but at Emma's bright smile, she seemed to cave. "Okay." The smile turned into a grin when the ding of the elevator alerted them of the others' arrival. 

"Oh crap," Clint murmured to himself, turning to face the opening doors. Pietro was on his feet in a heartbeat, Wanda barely a second later, and they stood like they were ready to fight their way out of here the moment those doors opened. "It's fine! It's just the team! Relax," he said immediately, trying to calm them down. 

"Barton?" came Tony's drawl from the elevator. "Please tell me why there are two random people sitting in my kitchen."

"Our kitchen," Steve corrected distantly, hiking the slumbering Peter up higher on his hip. He swept his baby-blues over Pietro and Wanda's thin frames, their damp hair, their scared looks. "Oh gosh. We're about to have a serious team discussion, aren't we?"

"We sure are," Tony said cheerfully, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at Clint, who smiled sheepishly at him.

"Then I'm going to tuck Peter in so we can yell at each other without disturbing his nap," Steve stated quietly, and Tony brushed a hand over Peter's head before Steve stepped into the elevator, leaving a deadly silence behind.

"Um," Bruce said awkwardly. "Hi. I'm Bruce Banner. Nice to meet you." Clint shot Bruce a grateful look. 

"Yes, awesome. Guys, this is the Hulk in his nicer, less smashy state. Team, this is Pietro and Wanda Maximoff," he hurried to say. Wanda's eyes swept over their faces, and he could tell she was reading their minds. "They got into some trouble with Shield, Coulson called me, and we had a little chat. Turns out they're not in it for the trouble but for uncontrollable powers."

"Yeah, you should see them! It's so cool!" Emma exclaimed, bouncing a little on her feet with excitement. "He runs really really really fast and she's got cool powers that let her levitate shit! So awesome, I know! C'mon, Wanda, show them!"

Wanda gave Clint a questioning gaze, and he smiled encouragingly at her, crossing his arms over his chest with a nod. 

"Go for it," he said. Wanda stared uncertainly for a moment, before she reached out a hand towards her abandoned glass on the kitchen island. Red light enveloped it, and it floated easily towards Wanda's glowing, outstretched hand. She grabbed it out of thin air, and handed it over to Clint, her eyes flashing scarlet as her hands lost their glow. 

"Wow," Bruce said, in his 'that-is-amazingly-interesting-please-let-me-dissect-you' voice. "Mutant, right? Can I take a look at your brainwaves?"

"At least ask her out to dinner first, Bruce-bear," Tony said and clapped him on the back, making Bruce frown and blush. 

"Not-I mean- Tony!" he said, exasperated. A small smile tugged on Wanda's lips, the closest thing to amusement Clint had seen on her face so far. 

"He just likes to startle you, because he thinks it will turn you into Hulk," she told him in her accented voice, her hands disappearing into her maroon sweater like turtles into their shells. Clint saw the moment Natasha placed the accent, the way her green eyes narrowed just the slightest. 

"You're Sokovian," she said, sounding at least mildly astonished. "How'd you get all the way over here?" 

"You're Russian," Wanda fired back. "How did you get here?"

 _Be nice, she's not trying to attack you_ , Clint thought, trying to make his mind-voice as loud as possible. From the way Wanda's eyes flickered to him, she heard him loud and clear. 

"Because of Clint. He likes to turn people into Americans," she said thoughtfully. Clint was just about to indignantly protest when Steve entered the kitchen again, now free of both his jacket and his toddler. He was showing off his very impressive torso in one of his tiny t-shirts that made his torso look like a perfect triangle. Pietro's eyes widened a little at the sight of him.

"What'd I miss?" he asked, smiling kindly at Wanda and Pietro. 

"That's Wanda, that's Pietro, they're Sokovian mutant twins? Yeah, definitely twins, also homeless, and they got into shit with Shield and Barton rescued them, and is trying to sway us to let them stay," Tony recapped helpfully as Steve crossed his arms over his chest. 

"Alright, sway away," Steve said, nodding towards Clint. Sometimes Steve was so reasonable it frustrated him, but right now, his openness was appreciated as hell. 

"Hold on a second, what did you do that got Shield on your case?" Bruce asked, furrowing his eyebrows. 

"Burned down a building and destroyed a block with their combined powers," Clint said. 

"It was accident," Pietro added, interrupting by holding a hand up.

"Right, accidentally. Obviously, the first step towards redeeming themselves would be helping the people who lost their homes rebuild their houses," Clint said pointedly. "And you're both willing to do that, right?" 

"Yes," the twins stated in near unison. 

"Awesome! Look, let's be real, Bucky was in worse condition when we put him in an actual fight. These guys only need some training and help controlling their powers before they're ready to go," Clint pointed out. Emma made an affronted noise. 

"Don't be like that, doll, he's right," came Bucky's voice from the open elevator. Everyone turned to look at Darcy and Bucky, standing there, hand in hand, in all their gorgeous glory. 

Bucky's hair had been cut short right when the agents and Emma had come back from Iowa, but it had already grown enough for his bangs to flop into his face, like now. As Pietro and Wanda stared, he pushed his Raybans up on his head, sweeping his bangs back with them. 

"I thought we were getting a cat," Bucky said as he and Darcy exited the elevator, hand in hand. Emma beamed at him. 

"We're also getting a cat. Though not now. However, this is Wanda and this is Pietro," she told the two. "That's my best friend, Bucky. The guy I told you about."

"Him?" Pietro questioned skeptically, and Darcy grinned sweetly. 

"Yeah, they're really weird and it's loving and adorable," she told him as she took her shoes off, leaning against Bucky for support as she did. "You're skinny."

Pietro looked down at his lithe body, patting his stomach.

"Well, I'm not fat," he stated thoughtfully. Bucky immediately caught on to the accent.

" **Sokovians**?" he signed at Natasha, who nodded. His dark eyebrows raised just a smidge in surprise. 

"Supermetabolism. Probably to make up for how much energy he burns through when he runs," Bruce said, pushing up his glasses on his nose and crossing his arms over his chest in thought. "Definitely consumes more energy than Steve, or Bucky. How old are you?"

"Twenty-three," Pietro replied, looking away a little self-consciously. 

"Well, at least you shouldn't be growing anymore. That would've been a problem," Bruce said. At the way Wanda's eyes shifted to the ground, Natasha's eyes narrowed. 

"Wouldn't that mean it was a problem?" she asked. All eyes in the room slipped towards Pietro, who was shifting restlessly again. "You must've stolen food to survive. If you're even worse than Steve and Bucky, who could both eat an entire cow if in need, there's no way you could've survived growth spurts without excessive amounts of food and rest." 

Pietro shrugged, and the silence was almost deafening for a few moments. 

"So, obviously, Clint's maternal instincts are currently screaming at him to fatten you up," Darcy intervened jokingly, breaking the tension.

"What? No way, Barton! Do you _know_ how much money we put into our food budget per _month_? We're at that point where we don't need a pot to make pasta, but a _cauldron_ , and you want us to feed a kid with worse supermetabolism than Steve?!" Tony exclaimed. Clint shrugged a little helplessly.

"Yes?"

"I can't believe you. If I had a glove, I'd smack you with it. No, hold that thought, Jarvis?" One of Tony's Iron Man gloves shot out from the wall, and he grabbed it, ready to smack Clint with it, when Steve grabbed him by the wrist, eyeing Pietro's nervous-looking face sadly. 

"If you're a bottomless pit when it comes to food, how've you been living on the streets without starving?" he asked, his voice soft and soothing. Wanda swallowed, burrowing further into her sweater as Pietro looked at her. 

"It's... If I don't run, I can be okay longer," he said, wetting his lips. "If I stay still, I don't have to eat often." Wanda pursed her lips, showing just how much she liked the idea of that. 

"But you're constantly hungry," Steve stated. Pietro shrugged a little half-heartedly. 

"Can't help it." Bucky's look turned grim at that. He remembered being starving, could even remember before he was the Winter Soldier, during the tough times in the war. He could remember that ache in his body, the way his stomach felt like it was clenching around nothing. Nothing like now, when he got to eat his fill.

"That sucks," Emma said eloquently, frowning up at the grey-haired man. He shrugged. 

"You never did answer," Natasha said, looking dangerous as she tilted her head back a little, giving the twins an appraising look. "How did you manage to get all the way over here?"

"We were tricked," Wanda replied angrily, clenching her jaw. 

"By who?" Bucky asked, eyes narrowing.

"A man who said he was our father," Pietro said, face darkening. 

"Dramatic," Tony hummed, one eyebrow raising.

"He just kicked you out on the street then?" Natasha asked, maybe a teeny bit insensitive. That intrigued Wanda, and she stared at the redhead, her dark eyes flashing scarlet.

"Wanda," Clint said warningly. "Stop poking." Natasha seemed to recognize what was going on, and she tilted her head a little, and raised her mental shields. Wanda seemed more familiar with the sensation now, but she still flinched. 

"You're a telepath," Bucky stated distrustfully. Wanda blinked a couple of times as she stared at him. 

"And you're a wreck," she told him, and Emma saw the twinge of uncertainty there, the way Bucky pulled back from the conversation they were currently having and back into his mind's safe corners. Darcy frowned and took his hand, not looking very pleased with Wanda.

"Alright, alright, let's rewind, all the way back to when we were nice. Hello, family. How were your trips to the park, hospital, and café?" 

"Who went to the hospital?" Tony asked, bewildered. 

"Kate got food posioning," Natasha said distantly, waving him off without making the actual motion. 

"The café was nice, thanks for asking," Darcy said pleasantly, and Emma smiled brightly at her. 

"Awesome. Also, could we stop the arguing for now, please? I've really had enough of all this angry tennis, so if we could just, take a step back, cool off, that'd be nice."

"Good idea," Steve said approvingly. "Well, team, I'd say we have some things to discuss," he added in his Captain America voice, leaving no room for argument.

"C'mon guys, let's go watch Adventure Time!" Emma declared, happy that that was settled. She grabbed the forgotten glass out of Clint's hand and took back the oreos, Pietro grabbed the jug of milk questioningly, and Wanda grabbed his glass as they trailed into the living room. Darcy followed, and Bucky was just about to do the same when Steve grabbed his arm. 

"C'mon," he said, dragging a surprised Bucky into the elevator along with the others. Clint stood thoughtfully for a second, and at Tony's urging, he tilted his head in thought. 

"Gimme a sec. I'll be right up," he said, walking into the living room. 

\---


	3. Reassurances And Phone Calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter for this one fic! Soon there will be pets and a time jump! Because I have sooooo many things I should actually be doing though, it might take a while to get it up here. Thanks for reading and commenting and being amazing!!  
> Enjoy! <3

 

"Pietro, Wanda? Can I talk to you for a second?" Clint asked. Wanda turned around where she was sitting in the couch, and Pietro was next to him in a second, a gust of wind following him. His sister followed, and Clint signed a 'we're fine' at Emma's confused face. 

"What happened to meeting?" Pietro asked.

"You guys okay?" he asked. Wanda gave him a bewildered look.

"Yes," she replied. "Why would we not be?"

"They asked you a lot of questions. I just want to make sure you guys don't hate them immediately," he said. Wanda's toes curled in her socks decorated with small cats, and Clint considered having Jarvis bring down her thicker ones. From the little laugh Wanda let out, she'd probably heard that. 

"No," she said. She looked over at Pietro, inquiring. 

"No," he agreed. "Stark is funny. Captain is... Good."

"Your wife is very happy with you," Wanda added. 

"What? You're shitting me. Are you sure you don't mean angry?" Clint asked incredulously. Wanda wrinkled her nose. 

"No, she's very happy. With you, and Emma."

"Oh," Clint said, hating the way he sounded so breathless. Of course he knew Natasha was happy, otherwise she would leave, undoubtedly. Natasha was not the kind of person who didn't pull out of situations she didn't want to be with. Still, hearing Wanda say it, the actual mind reader, was... Comforting, in a way. It meant the affection he saw on Natasha's face and heard in her voice wasn't fake, wasn't a cover. "Right."

"You're stupid in love," Pietro said dismissively. "Anyone could see." 

"I didn't pull you guys over here to talk about my love life," he said, shaking his head. 

"Then what?" Pietro asked. 

"I just need you to know that I'm not just gonna abandon you two if the team says no. You know that, right?" Clint insisted. "If they say no, I'm still gonna set you up with an apartment and someone that'll help you learn how to stay in control of your powers."

"Why? They're your team," Wanda said, her voice filled with barbed wires she wanted him to grab. Clint smiled a little at how prickly she was. She reminded him of a stubborn child in that second, and he wondered how early they were tricked into leaving their country and home, when they had to grow up as fast as possible to surivive.

"Yeah, they are, but that doesn't mean I mindlessly agree with everything they say or do. That's the point with having a team, so you have different opinions and ways to look at a problem."

"And we are problem," Pietro stated. Clint made a so-so motion with his hands. 

"We've only really been the basic six for a while. And then Sam came around when Steve and Nat were looking for Bucky, and eventually Bucky started going on missions with us. Even though he's not supposed to. Actually, that might become a discussion we're having right now. I just wanted you to know. Whatever happens, you're not going back out on the street. Alright?" 

The twins stared at him, but Wanda's eyes flashed scarlet, and he could almost guess that they were talking to each other without having to actually open their mouths. Which, _wow_ , really cool and possibly useful.

"Okay," Pietro agreed, his voice quiet and soft. Clint smiled at them both. 

"Good. Now, I have to run. Watch cartoons, eat an oreo or two. Live a little," he said. Pietro was already back in the couch, Wanda following him. Emma tossed him a look over her shoulder. 

" **Take care of them** ," he signed, and Emma nodded, a serious expression on her face. 

\---

On Tony and Steve's floor, the rest of the Avengers were gathered, along with a mildly confused Bucky. They were strewn over the couches in Tony and Steve's living room, the door to Peter's room firmly closed to keep the noise out.

"Y'know he's not actually an Avenger, right? He doesn't have a say in this," Tony said, pointing to Bucky. Bruce gave him a tired look. 

"He hasn't signed the papers, yeah, we know, so what? He's as much a part of this team as you are," he sighed, leaning against the kitchen island. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Natasha has more confirmed kills than he has, and she's on the team."

"Entirely possible, and I'm only here because you need at least one woman on the team," Natasha said as she tapped her nails on the kitchen island impatiently. Where the hell was Clint?

She couldn't say she was too surprised about the twins appearing after the way Clint had ended their phone call earlier, but she would've liked a warning. They were partners after all, parents even. They were a team in every way imaginable, and he hadn't told her about this huge thing before the others. That hurt her a little, honestly, but hurt wasn't a favorite emotion of Natasha's, so she twisted and turned it until it turned into anger, a sizzle of aggravation underneath her skin. She tapped her nails on the kitchen counter again.

"And because she loves Barton, obviously," Tony added. 

"You only joined the Avengers because of Barton?" Bucky asked skeptically as he sat down in a very stuffed chair carefully, testing how firm it was so he didn't get sucked in. 

"My partner was compromised. My ultimate goal was to un-compromise him, not to get sucked into a team," Natasha said flippantly.

"And yet, three years later, here you are," Steve smiled, like the little shit he secretly is when he's not acting his actual age. 

"You're not all too bad. Bruce makes a mean curry," Natasha shrugged. Bruce hummed a thank you. 

"And Barton. He stayed too," Bucky said. "Even though he wasn't originally in the game plan."

"Bit of a package deal, those two," Tony smirked. "Say, when will I be losing tons of money to arrange your wedding? I'd like to get my board prepared for the punch."

Natasha opened her mouth to reply with something cutting and threatening, something that would make Steve look constipated and Bruce uncomfortable, when Bucky cut in. 

"Leave her alone, if she doesn't want to marry, she doesn't want to marry," he sighed, sinking further into the comfortable chair. Natasha narrowed her eyes at him. 

"I don't need you to defend me, James," she told him sweetly, that voice that sounded so out of place coming from her mouth according to Tony. Then it struck her. "Wait. Why are you... Oh my god, you want to marry Darcy."

"What?!" Tony exclaimed, swiveling his head around to stare at Bucky. The look on Bucky's face resembled that of a trapped animal, his eyes locked with Natasha's. 

"Buck?" Steve asked, his eyes bright and his voice filled with hope. 

"Jesus fucking christ, why am I here?" Bucky ground out, tearing his eyes away from a triumphant Natasha and sinking even further into the chair, though this time it was obviously to avoid the conversation.

"You've only been dating for a year," Bruce said incredulously. "But I mean, it makes sense. You've met most of her family by now, and when is there ever going to come around another girl who can deal with..." Bruce waved his hands around the room. 

"Fair point. We're all a handfull at the best of times," Tony agreed. "Honestly, I don't even get how you keep it together, you two."

"I honestly don't get why Stevie hasn't divorced you yet, so I guess that makes two of us," Bucky fired back easily, and Steve got a pained look on his face. 

"Calm down, boys," Natasha soothed, really only to be nice to Steve. 

"Okay guys, let's get this over with!" Clint declared as he appeared from the elevator. "Oh, wow, the tension in here is thick. Whew." 

"Oh, you know, the usual," Tony said, his eyes shifting away from Bucky. Of course he was insecure about his relationship with Steve, which was something Bucky could sniff out like a wolf on a hunt. Natasha could understand his need to draw blood, but he really shouldn't do it when Steve was around.

"Right. So? Let's hear it," Clint said, motioning for them to bring it on. "One at a time." 

"I think that you should've given us some warning," Natasha immediately bit in. Clint winced, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh boy, Barton's in trouble," Tony sing-songed, and Bucky smacked him distantly, albeit pretty mildly. 

"Yeah, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you on the phone. This is just a kind of big deal, y'know? A little too big to just brush over on the phone," he said, and gave Natasha the puppy dog eyes that were frankly a little ridiculous on a grown man, but it was cute enough that Natasha scoffed and shifted her stance so that she was standing next to Clint instead of against him. 

With Natasha's support holding him up, he swept his eyes over his teammates. 

"C'mon. They're pretty cool. And they're so small. We can't toss them out on their asses now," he said firmly. 

"I agree with Clint," Bruce said with a sigh. "Also, we don't have any mutants on the team, and as Natasha pointed out, representation is important."

"Why don't we just ship them off to the X-Men? They'd be with their own kind," Tony pointed out. "They'd probably be more comfortable that way."

"No," Bucky said, from where he was almost folded in half in his cushy chair. "They're already forming an attatchment to Barton. Learning how to trust him. We're stuck with them. Besides, they're alone with Emma now, right? No way they'll want to leave then."

"You'd know," Tony said with an eyeroll. Bucky fixed him with a level stare. 

"The only reason I didn't run off in the first place was because I knew I was dangerous and was going to kill others. I knew that it was wrong to kill, but I didn't care. I was made to kill. There are days where I want to do nothing but. The only reason I stayed was because of her. Not obligation, not old friends, not wanting to be a good guy, none of that. Because of her. She taught me all of that later. Try separating Emma from me and I will have to rip your arc reactor and then your heart from your body," he said in a monotone. The look on Steve's face was a little grim, but understanding, and Bucky shot him a side-smile of apology. 

"Cheery," Tony said into the stunned silence that followed, and then he groaned, tipping his head back in agony. "I can already feel all of my money sliding away as Pepper redoes the food budget."

"So they get to stay?" Clint asked hopefully.

"Team vote," Steve suggested. "Those who are for Wanda and Pietro getting to stay, hands up." All six hands raised, although Tony's hand was a little more reluctant. 

Clint's grin was at least 200 watt, and he wrapped an arm around Natasha's shoulders carefully, testing the waters. She allowed him to pull her into his side, and his grin brightened even more.

"Awesome! You're not gonna regret this. I'm sure Wanda will let you check her brainwaves now," Clint told Bruce, who visibly brightened too. 

"I'm gonna regret this!" Tony complained loudly, and was promptly shut up by Steve giving him an exasperated kiss.

\---

Darcy was making tea for herself and Wanda when Emma noticed the fine tremor in Pietro's hands. His reflexes were too fast for any controllers, so they'd began watching Friends on Netflix, and even though his eyes were glued to the screen, his hands were practically vibrating with unused energy. She was considering ways to fix that when Wanda spoke up from where she was curled up next to her on the couch.

"You're like Clint," she stated, out of the blue. Emma turned to look at her with a grin. 

"So I've been told," she agreed. "And everyone says mom and I are really alike, too." Wanda considered that. 

"Yes," she nodded. "Why do you call Clint dad and Black Widow mom?"

"Because they're my parents. And I want to," Emma replied, throwing her legs over the back of the couch carelessly. "It's a term of affection. Plus, I never really had parents when I was younger, so having parents now is great."

"You are..." Pietro began, and squinted at his sister. " **What is 'adopted' in English?** " Emma looked between them in confusion as Wanda searched her mind for the word. 

"Adopted," she said in her brother's stead, and Emma nodded. 

"Yup. I know we look alike, but I'm not their biological daughter. Though, I don't think that matters to them."

"It doesn't," Wanda agreed. 

"Oh, right, you'd actually know," Emma smiled. "That's so cool. Can you tell what I'm thinking about right now?"

"Something called... Eggo?" Wanda said, her face contorted into a confused grimace. Emma grinned. 

"You betcha! Eggo's are the best," she declared as Darcy came back into the room carrying two huge mugs of tea. She handed one off to Wanda and sat back down in the couch, a small frown on her face. 

"Okay, but be real here," Darcy said, sipping her tea. "How complicated is your mind reading depending on how smart the person is? Like, could Tony outsmart you and trap you in his gigantic brain somewhere?" Wanda chuckled quietly, and Pietro disappeared in a gust of wind, returning a second later with a bag of white cheddar popcorn. Emma made an approving noise and held a hand out for some.

"I don't think so. With the right training, he could shut me out, like Clint and Black Widow, and the wreck," Wanda said thoughtfully. Darcy sucked air in through her teeth. 

"I'm gonna have to sock you if you keep calling my boyfriend 'the wreck'," Darcy told her pleasantly. "Mutant or no. Talk shit, get hit, dude."

"Sorry," Wanda said, not sounding very sorry at all. "He's... Unstable."

"I'd say he's pretty stable. You should've seen him a year ago. Back then, he was a total wreck," Emma said thoughtfully. 

"You haven't seen his mind," Wanda said softly. "I see you love him."

"Yeah," Emma agreed. "He's my best friend."

"He does not look like your mind says."

"I'm known to simplify things to a cartoonish degree," she shrugged. Wanda only hummed in thought. "Pietro, love, could you get my phone for me? It's in the kitchen."

Pietro disappeared for a second and returned with Emma's phone in hand, and Darcy raised an eyebrow at Emma. 

"'Love'? Since when are you British, _guvnah_?" Darcy asked with a terrible British accent to boot.

"First of all, any British person would be offended at that horrible accent. Impressions are not one of your many strengths. Second, you may have noticed this dark-haired guy that runs around here sometimes? Taller than me, very pissy, has a British butler and was raised speaking traditional English?" Emma said snarkily. Darcy grinned, stretching over Wanda's curled up legs to poke the redhead in the side. 

"Oh my god, Damian calls you 'love'? How cute can you two _get_?" 

"Damian?" Pietro said questioningly, smirking down at Emma in a way that got her to roll her eyes.

"Oh, don't worry. You'll see a lot of him around here. You'll meet him and he'll insult you and Emma will defend you somehow. It's like a ritual by now," Darcy said, sipping her tea. 

"He's my boyfriend," Emma explained to the now smug Pietro, just as her phone started vibrating. She looked at the screen and chuckled. "Holy crap, speak of the devil." Pressing the green button, Emma held the phone to her ear. "I thought I told you to stop putting surveilance cameras in my tower."

"I didn't," Damian replied, sounding confused. "You've made yourself very clear."

"Yeeeah, that oughta stop you," Emma said pointedly, swinging her legs back to flip herself onto her feet. 

"I didn't," he repeated, sounding decidedly miffed. He sighed impatiently. "I only have a few minutes before I have to go."

"Go where?" she asked, eyebrows furrowing as she walked into the kitchen. A burst of displaced air, and Pietro was following her, looking curious. 

"Out," Damian said. Emma threw an eye at the clock.

"Dude, it's not even 4 p.m.," she said.

"I know."

"Then why're you going out?"

"I have things I need to do. Tell the others I'm doing something frivolous, like going skiing in the alps, or something. I won't be home for at least a week."

"Dude, what? But we had a date thing! New Disney movie!" she complained, and immediately felt a little bad. She shouldn't be guilting him about that, when he's going out to stop villains and shit. He has other things to care about.

"I know," Damian replied, sounding annoyed, but not at her. It was the kind of annoyance that was directed at the world in general. "It's... It sucks, quite frankly, but the Mission comes first." Emma could hear the capital M in 'mission', had heard him say the exact same thing before, but she could also hear the regret. 

This wasn't a courtesy call, this was him calling and pretty much asking for permission to take off and ditch her. She smiled softly at Pietro, who was pulling a pack of Eggos out of the fridge with a confounded look on his face, mouthing the word 'Eggo' as if it was an entirely new concept. 

"I know it does," Emma agreed. The tiny sigh of relief on Damian's side of the call was expected, and she could accept that he'd have to make his rounds outside of his town sometimes. That wasn't too ridiculous, considering she was dating a superhero. "Go save the world, beloved. I'll be right here when you get back. Promise."

"Right," he agreed, probably nodding on the other side. "I'll call when I get back."

"Sure. Bye," she said softly, recieving a murmur in reply. She ended the call, and looked up, finding Pietro holding out a tub of her favorite ice cream and two spoons. The Eggos were mysteriously missing from sight. "That's break-up comfort food. We didn't break up. He's just going on a skiing trip."

"Boys are still stupid, and ice cream is good," he said with a shrug, and waved a spoon in her face a little more, wiggling his eyebrows invitingly. Grabbing it, Emma snickered, digging into the tub.

"This certain boy likes to make my head spin in interesting ways," she sighed. 

"Like in Excorsist?" he asked, one eyebrow raised in question. Emma gasped. 

"Please tell me you like terrible old movies and pop culture references," she said, eyes bright.

"Yes," Pietro nodded, and she gasped louder. "Sitting though? Not really."

"Right. Goddammit. You should let Bruce tire you out. I'm pretty sure he's got a treadmill for you to run on. And tons of very non-invasive brain checks. Maybe your neurons fire faster than everyone elses just so you can see what you're running past," she said thoughtfully.

"Neurons?" he questioned. Emma waved him off with her spoon before she coaxed a chocolate piece onto her spoon and popped it into her mouth.

"Bruce is better at explaining things like that. He's gotten me through Science so far, anyways."

They ate in relative silence for a while, before Pietro spoke up again. 

"This is... Nice. You are nice," he said, looking a little suspicious. "Why?" Emma smiled at him. 

"Want to hear something I realized in the first couple of months of living here?" He nodded. "They're nice for _no reason._ Tony, he gave me a pair of magnetic gloves just because he didn't have any real use for them, and I asked. Bruce hasn't complained once that he's had to help me with sixth grade math when he's got like five doctorates in physics, and biology, and chemistry, and a bunch of other things. Steve will help you with anything you ask him to, whether it's to change a lightbulb or make dinner, and won't ever complain about it. My mom has no reason to keep buying blankets for people, but she knows that Bruce gets extra cold whenever he's had to Hulk out, so he's pretty much always got a nest of them somewhere. It's because they're good people. It's weird, I know."

"It's weird," Pietro repeated, nodding with a frown. 

Just then, the elevator bell dinged, and the team stepped out, looking serious. 

"Oh geeze, the Grimvengers," Emma said, eyebrows raising. 

"Get into the living room," Bucky said, his face blank. Emma held her hands up, and Pietro swept the ice cream away in the blink of an eye, smiling innocently as they walked, normal speed, into the living room, where Darcy and Wanda were sitting far apart, but talking and sounding very civil. 

"Oh, hey guys," Darcy said sweetly, but the tone was dropped as the Avengers filed into the room, standing in front of the couch and blocking the tv. "Christ, did the room just get colder?"

When no one replied, Darcy huffed and took another sip of her tea, content to watch the drama unfold. Emma was hanging over the back of the couch with bated breath, eyes flicking between various family members.

Finally, Steve spoke up. 

"We have, as a team, decided to put you both on probation, for the time being. You'll be allowed to stay at the tower, and have to sign a few contracts, but we have faith that you can turn your lives around, if only with the right hands to hold," he said, and Emma cheered, gracefully flopping over the couch on the other side of Pietro, who had tossed an arm over his sister's shoulders. 

"Awesome!" Emma declared.

"But," Tony continued, giving Emma a surprisingly calm look. "If you so much as breathe a hint of going back to burning buildings down, on accident, we'll have to kick you out." Clint cleared his throat pointedly, and Tony lost the calm look to roll his eyes at him. "To the X-men. Not on the streets. Again. We're good people."

"And no fighting until we say you're ready," Natasha added. 

"I think that was all. Right?" Clint said. 

"It was," Bucky said, his eyes narrowed at Wanda. "It's Bruce's turn to make dinner."

"What? It can't be! I made dinner last week!" Bruce said indignantly.

"It's definitely not my turn," Clint said, hands in the air. 

"It's Tony's turn," Natasha argued. 

"We're consulting the chart! No way am I gonna get tricked by your mindgames again, Widow!" Tony exclaimed, walking into the kitchen. 

"Are they always like that?" Pietro asked as the rest of the Avengers followed, arguing over whose turn it was. 

"Serious and one united front one moment and a disaster waiting to happen the next? Pretty much," Emma grinned as Darcy stood up to join the others in the kitchen. "You get used to it. Also, arguing over whose turn it is to do something is pretty much family bonding times, unless we're having a movie night. Speaking of..." 

She trailed into the kitchen after the others, and Pietro and Wanda stared at each other. 

" **This day has been crazy** ," Pietro murmured, leaning his head against Wanda's. She took a deep breath and he could feel her sending agreement at him through her powers. 

" **We will take it one day at a time. It will take time to get used to. We need them. My powers are only growing stronger. They'll consume me if I can't-** "

" **Don't say that** ," Pietro cut her off, twirling a strand of her hair around his finger distantly. " **The Avengers... They are the answer we're looking for**."

" **I hope so, Pietro. I hope so.** "

\---

**Author's Note:**

> Sokovia isn't even a real country, so I have no idea what the language sounds like, but from the weird accent Wanda has in the movie, I'm assuming it's somwhere in the vague direction of eastern Europe, and I'm gonna be sticking to that. Hope you liked! Comments and feedback are always the greatest!!!<3


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